The four major components of the project involved:
- strengthening the capacity of the National Herders' Association (FNEC) to enable it to distribute inputs to herders and advise them on animal health care;
- restructuring the National Livestock Development Agency (ANDE) and strengthening its extension and research capacity;
- rehabilitating 600 km of feeder roads; and
- reinforcing the management of the project management unit (PMU).
Pilot activities in dry-season supplementary feeding, milk processing and tsetse and tick control were also planned.
In terms of its stated objectives, the project achieved
a number of significant results:
- By the end of the project, FNEC (which was largely responsible for the delivery of animal health and production inputs to herders) had been more firmly established and enjoyed the trust and confidence of the local herder associations.
- Through provision of refresher courses to ANDE staff, the project increased both its managerial capacity and its technical competence to undertake anti-rinderpest vaccination campaigns. Thanks to the project, more animals were vaccinated, mostly against rinderpest, and the Government and donors alike now have a clearer picture of the animal health situation in the country.
- By the end of the project, herders were able to reach markets more easily. The result was that they increased their off-take and used the markets more frequently.
- By the end of the project, some 80% of herders were regularly treating their animals for internal/external parasites, which led to lower mortality rates and increased meat production. According to the project completion report (PCR), the mortality rate among 0-1 year-old cattle fell from 23% at the beginning of the project to 21% at the end. Similarly, the mortality rate among 1-3 year-olds fell from 14% to 6.7%.
- The project successfully trained herders in the use of veterinary drugs and increased the capacity of government extension services. FNEC provided advice to herders.
- Between one and three herder settlement areas (ZAGROPs) were created.
In the data available at IFAD, there is some confusion as to the exact
number created.
It was expected that the new market centres would encourage animal sales and thus increase herder incomes. A pilot project, involving the provision of feed and mineral supplements in the dry season to improve the condition of the animals, was also planned. |
|
Planned |
Achieved |
Build 20 new market centres. Pilot dry-season supplementary feeding and milk-processing technologies among a limited number of farmers. |
Only three new market centres were built, but 84 were rehabilitated. As a result, the total number of functioning market centres far exceeded the number envisaged at appraisal. According to the PCR, these market centres are functioning well and serve as a good vehicle for measuring project parameters such as the number of cattle sold, weight, general health, sales origin and buyer identity. The pilot activities met with reasonable success, as reported in the PCR. Four milk processing/cheese-making facilities were built. The beneficiaries of this pilot activity were mostly women. |
There are three recognized professional livestock-related organizations in the Central African Republic: FNEC, the Central African Association of Livestock Traders (ACCB) and the National Association of Central African Butchers (ANBC). Of these, FNEC is the most effective and solidly established. |
|
Planned |
Achieved |
Form 216 herder associations, for a total of 10 800 members, to provide herders with veterinary inputs. Train 30 pastoral agents to monitor and help improve the management of local herder associations. |
The 1988 supervision mission advised that the number of pastoral agents to be trained should be reduced from 30 to 10 since EDF financing for this purpose had been delayed. |
Note: The project did not have a savings and credit component. However, the need for such a component was expressed by the herders and was thus incorporated into the subsequent Livestock Development and Rangeland Management Project (361). In addition, other project activities, such as the rehabilitation of markets and feeder roads, had the effect of offering herders more choice in risk management.
| The rangelands of the Central African Republic constitute abundant, albeit under-utilized, range resources. However, there is increasing awareness among users and policy-makers of the need to protect the natural rangeland resources and to preserve their potential. If the livestock and human populations continue to grow and current rangeland practices are maintained, it is very likely that rangeland degradation will become difficult to reverse. Therefore, sustainable rangeland practices should be promoted. Overgrazing in the rangelands near potential markets clearly demonstrates that the herders prefer certain strategically convenient areas where land is becoming scarce. The creation of ZAGROPs was the result of widespread concern among herders with regard to the problem of overgrazing. Herders are offered land rights in these areas —institutionalized by the Government — which should provide them with a greater degree of stability. Many herders do not practise rangeland management techniques, some of which are time consuming and labour-intensive, because of doubts regarding the security of tenure. However, if they believe that they and their descendants are likely to enjoy the benefits of investments in the land, they might be persuaded to implement improved rangeland management practices. The ZAGROPs have been designed in such a way that committees made up of representatives of the herder families concerned manage them. Some tension between farmers and herders was reported in at least one of the functioning ZAGROPs as the farmers resented the fact that herders had been given prime agricultural land. The creation of the first ZAGROPs did not involve any consultation among users of the land resources, i.e. farmers, herders and hunters. Care should be taken to avoid such situations in the future if the ZAGROPs are to be successful. |
|
| Planned |
Achieved |
| Set up seven fully functioning ZAGROPs by the end of the project. |
There is some confusion among data available at IFAD as to how many ZAGROPS were actually created and functioning by the end of the project. According to the President's Report and Recommendation on the subsequent Livestock Development and Rangeland Management Project (361), three ZAGROPs had been formed and were functioning by the end of the National Livestock Project. However, according to the PCR, only two ZAGROPs were formed, and the Central African Republic Country Strategy Report (1997) states that only one ZAGROP was functioning at the end of the project. It is clear, however, that the number fell short of the appraisal objective. Reasons for the shortfall include the complexity of government administrative procedures for setting up ZAGROPs and lack of an administrative and legal framework to allocate exclusive grazing rights to herder groups. Furthermore, a delay in EDF financing, which was earmarked exclusively for pastoral development, might have impeded implementation of this activity. |
| Pre-inception reports cited inadequate access to animal health care as a major constraint on livestock production in the Central African Republic. In this context, one of the project’s objectives was to improve the extension and vaccination capacity of ANDE and provide additional training for its staff, and to upgrade FNEC’s input distribution system with a view to improving animal health. |
|
| Planned |
Achieved |
Build 30 depots in order to expand FNEC’s input distribution system. Train 5 400 herders in the use of routine veterinary drugs. Build an unspecified number of dips. Improve ANDE’s extension and vaccination capacity and provide its staff with additional training. |
Only 26 depots were built, but farmers’ access to veterinary drugs and other inputs improved and FNEC’s income increased. It is believed to have sufficient profits from the sale of drugs to finance some of its operating costs and pay its staff members (reported to be too numerous and too well paid), but not to pay for capital renewal. Only 4 071 herders were trained in the use of veterinary drugs. Once again, the PCR indicates the lack of adequate staff as the main reason for this shortfall. No information is available on the dip-building programme. Refresher courses for ANDE staff increased their capacity to undertake vaccinations and epidemiological surveys. |
- Thanks mainly to the creation of herder associations at the field level, input distribution systems were established and the supply of inputs improved. This made it possible for the herders both to identify with these associations and to join them, thus proving the validity of the bottom-up, rather than the top-down, approach.
- The herder associations’ objectives were too limited and they were unable to help the herders when cattle prices declined by more than 30%.
- Consultation should have taken place among all land users with regard to the proposed ZAGROPs so as to avoid conflict between farmers, hunters and herders.
- The technical aspects of the intervention were being implemented relatively well by the end of the project, but FNEC and ANDE were still not seen as economically sustainable.
- Poor technical assistance from donors led to failure in strengthening FNEC’s management capabilities to an adequate level.
- As stated in the PCR, once the serious lack of competence and transparency in ANDE's bookkeeping had been identified, a specialist should have been engaged to review its accounts before an audit was undertaken.
- According to the PCR, the project's organizational structure was based on the Government’s undertaking (at the time of appraisal) not to interfere in the management of the herder organisations. Therefore, there were no in-built measures to counteract such interference once the Government had changed.
- The PCR suggests that a broader-based project responding to actual herder needs (e.g. health services and food crop development) might have protected the poorer herders when cattle prices dropped by more than 30%.
- According to the PCR, no apparent effort was made to set up a project-specific monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mechanism, despite recognition of the need for it.
- The funds collected by FNEC from its members were user fees, rather than taxes, and labelling them as such might have avoided confusion.
- The experience with market centres in this project demonstrates that it may be more effective to rehabilitate existing infrastructures rather than to build new facilities.
- Insofar as member-run institutions tend to be dominated by local elites, incentives should be provided to discourage favouritism with regard to the recruitment of personnel and excessive staff numbers and salaries. A realistic assessment should be made of the competence of local staff and, if necessary, additional training provided.
- Among other things, successful rangeland management depends on the administrative and policy framework controlled by the government concerned, for example, with regard to land tenure and the legal status of cooperatives.
